After an 0-2 start, the Cougars have a victory under their belt. They defeated visiting Tri-Central 22-8 and also chalked up a conference win.

The Cougars played well on both sides of the ball in contrast to the 2-0 Trojans who committed six turnovers – 3 interceptions and 3 fumbles. Three of those turnovers came on TC’s first four possessions.

On Carroll’s opening possession, the Trojans held the Cougars to three plays, and they had to punt. TC fumbled the snap on its first offensive play, giving the ball back to Carroll at the 50- yard line. Carroll could not take advantage of the miscue. A field goal attempt was pushed to the right by the wind.

Following the missed field goal the Trojans fumbled the ball away on an odd play. As the quarterback stepped back in an apparent attempt to call timeout, the center snapped the ball and the Cougars recovered on the 28-yard line. This time the Cougars took advantage of the giveaway, wasting no time as they scored on their first play when QB Daniel Huckstep hit Ryan Spesard in the end zone. Marcus Hedrick added the extra point for a 7-0 Carroll lead with 3:54 left in the first quarter.

The Trojans miscued again when they fumbled the ball away on the second play of the second quarter. That mistake gave the Cougars great field position – the Trojans’ 15-yard line. TC stiffened its defense and kept Carroll out of the end zone, but Hedrick added to Carroll’s score with a 28-yard field goal.

TC’s Austin Horn put some life back into the Trojan’s offense, leading a 10- play, 62-yard scoring drive. Horn had runs of 10, 2 and 21 yards to set up his 5-yard TD run with 5:02 left in the first half. Horn scored a 2- point conversion to make the score 10-8 Carroll.

With time running out in the first half, Jonathan Bush saved a potential Trojan score when he intercepted a pass at the 10-yard line.

TC’s offense did not produce in the third quarter. They turned the ball over often, including an interception by Cougar Chad Griffin.

The fourth quarter was all Carroll’s. Brady Noonkester put the game away for good with TD runs of 1-yard and 43 yards. Both extra point attempts failed.

The Trojans appeared to run out of gas in the final period. TC did take the ball from their own 20-yard line to Carroll’s 5, but on fourth down the Cougars sacked the Trojan quarterback for a big loss that ended the drive.

Bush led Carroll’s defense with 20 tackles and one interception.

The Cougars are at home again this Friday against Cascade High School, Clayton.